Amayan

For her to tell you that through text, and not even give you the courtesy of a face-to-face conversation, feels incredibly skeezy and passive aggressive. I don't want to insult your mom, but I'm sorry you've been snared into such a childish predicament.

Ms. Anderson, I think you know exactly what you're doing in the fall. I've seen the whole first season.

I hate how many pop songs I know all the lyrics to. I don't even know where I hear them often enough to memorize, but they're everywhere. Do I like "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift? Not at all - but I could sing it to you anyways.

Off road

Don't give up hope until you hear back definitively from WUSTL. The draft pages are an anonymous online message board with little credibility, and people will lie on the internet for absolutely no reason.

The treat is that I will get to move far, far away. I think every mile will let me breathe a little easier and smile a little bigger. And the road trip will be the honeymoon my SO and I were never able to have.

http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/creative-writing/apply.html This was a school I had looked into, where they instruct on the page "Please do not submit screenplays, children's stories, fantasy or science fiction." Maybe it is rare and I just picked unusual schools.

I've never written science fiction or fantasy before, so I wasn't really affected by this - but why do so many MFA programs not allow these genres to be submitted? I know these stories can be very successful and amazing, so is it that they are considered low art or of less literary value in MFA culture?

The Hobbit movies. But I love the source material and the 70s cartoon version.

Argue in endless circles for who I believe should get in, while everyone else does the same. The rift of opinion grows so deep, it can only be mended via liberal application of Timbits, cocoa, and compromise. I trade my candidates for extra tiny marshmellows, and call it a win.

To all programs: I wasn't complimenting you to get in your good graces; I picked your program because I'm genuinely impressed by your work and would love to learn from you. To Wisconsin: I'm so sorry about Scott Walker. D:

"I'm all for honesty, but this SOP is really oversharing." "What does this sentence even mean? You don't need to gargle a thesaurus to sound academic." "This applicant will not shut up about hiking. She only wants us for our trails."

I'm not sure how to categorize this, but when people say things like: "I had two jobs full time while being a single parent and going to grad school. It's easy if you know how to work hard." "I only get 4 hours of sleep a night. It's no problem if you're ambitious." "I lost all my pregnancy weight in two weeks. Anyone can do it if they don't make excuses." I'm not a very competitive person, but it irks me when people try to compete over silly things like who's period hurts the least.

When you say "geared towards Amazon employees," does that mean in terms of rental price/location?

Living in such a metropolitan area, maybe explaining the situation to former/present colleagues might yield some leads.

I don't think it's called helping when you ask others to completely write it for you. However, if you have a finished draft you want opinions on, I'm sure someone would give their advice.

I'm also waiting to hear from Oregon. Besides the awesome program and campus, it looks like a gorgeous state to live in.

1 - Mother. I have never been less qualified for anything in my life; not gonna happen. 2 - Creative Writing Instructor. Need MFA first, honestly feel qualified already based on my independent research and work. 3 - Reference Librarian. Needs a degree far too expensive for me to attempt. Would have to buff up on my technology skills. 4 - Graphic Novelist. I can write and illustrate well, but I'm just not fast enough yet. I'm still working on improving speed without sacrificing quality.

I survive on patience. Things I am waiting for: 1) The ending to Pirates of Dark Water 2) Darksiders 3 and 4 3) Good MFA news My world will explode with excitement if any of this comes to pass. And I've waited over three years for Guts to get off a boat, I can handle anything.

I obviously don't know what your conversations with this student have been like, but is it possible she isn't flirting with you? I only ask because I've often struggled to make friends with men who didn't catch my drift of "let's be friends." If I want to spend my personal time with someone, man or woman, I'll start with the obvious suggestion of inviting them to dinner or drinks. "Have you seen this movie yet?" "We should hang out when finals are done with." It can get pretty frustrating. One guy even told me he thought it was a date just because I wore a skirt.

Our fields are very different, I'm afraid, but I can say one thing: Take advantage of your university library. Scientific journals tend to be expensive, whether you pay by article or by issue. The amount of material you have free access to as a student is incredible, and you will miss it when it's gone. I know I certainly do!

Regarding this topic, I can vouch for Minneapolis and Madison being awesome options in terms of general public acceptance and active communities/clubs where it is easy to meet similar people. I found Fargo to be far less inviting.

You can absolutely do it! I got into an English Literature MA program with a 3.3 GPA, no publications, and bombed two literature classes during the course of my BA.

"Damn, UCLA is aggressive. I didn't even apply here!"